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Last Defendant Sentenced In Largest Jefferson County Drug Trafficking Organization

– Cocaine supply tied to the Mexican Drug Cartel – Involved the sale of 100 kilos of cocaine per month and resulted in 26 arrested and successfully prosecuted

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The last of 26 defendants charged in the largest Jefferson County, Kentucky drug trafficking organization was sentenced in United States District Court this week, by Senior Judge Charles R. Simpson III, for his role in the distribution of cocaine, brought into the United States through a Mexican drug cartel, to metro Louisville for distribution, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

“This final sentencing brings to a close the successful prosecution of a dangerous network of drug dealers,” stated U.S. Attorney Hale. “This exemplifies what can be accomplished when law enforcement collaborates across jurisdictional lines,” concluded U.S. Attorney Hale.

“This closes the book on one of the most significant drug trafficking organizations in the Louisville area. The McCarthy organization, including its out-of-state pipeline of devastating drugs into Kentucky, has been completely dismantled,” said Robert Corso, DEA Special Agent in Charge, Detroit Field Division, which covers the state of Kentucky.

All 26 defendants either pleaded guilty to charges or were found guilty at trial. Kerry Dickerson of Louisville, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison this week, by Judge Simpson, for his role in the syndicates’ sale and distribution of cocaine.

During the investigation and prosecution of this drug trafficking organization, more than 20 assault style rifles, 37 kilos of cocaine, and $4 million cash were seized and presented as evidence. According to evidence presented during the prosecution of the 26 defendants, including the trial of Abel Flores and Ramon Flores the United States proved that hundreds of kilos of cocaine were brought into the United States through a Mexican drug cartel, to Jefferson County, Kentucky for distribution in the Louisville area through drug trafficking organizer Michael McCarthy. Further, the United States proved that the Flores brothers, who operated out of California, supplied the cocaine through a cross-country distribution network originating in southern California and involved 24 co-defendants, living in and around the Louisville area. This courier system returned between one and four million dollars to the Flores brothers each month. The conspiracy began in August 2007 and ran through May 10, 2010.

The United States presented evidence obtained through wire tapped phone recordings, controlled calls, jail calls, defendant witnesses in the Bureau of Prisons, defendant witnesses in Marshal custody, numerous law enforcement witnesses from different agencies, and experts from the Metro Louisville Police Fingerprint Lab, the DEA and an expert from the T-Mobile law enforcement compliance division to discuss the geo location information gathered from defendant phones in real time. The United States also presented documents relating to phone records, hotel records and airline records.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Scott Davis and Robert B. Bonar and was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Louisville Division Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Louisville Field Division, and Metro Louisville Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Indiana and Kentucky State Police.